Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ossi Nokelainen, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Yonggang Nie, Fuwen Wei, Tim Caro
Summary: The black-and-white coloration of giant pandas provides camouflage in their natural environment, with black fur blending into dark shades and white fur matching foliage and snow. The results are consistent across different vision models, showing that the coloration is an adaptation for background matching and distance-dependent disruptive coloration.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yi Li, Yasmin Teixeira, Gina Parlato, Jaclyn Grace, Fei Wang, Bryan D. Huey, Xueju Wang
Summary: This study presents a facile and versatile strategy to achieve reversible shape-morphing and color-changing capabilities in functional structures using liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) structures incorporated with thermochromic dyes. By controlling the transition temperature of the LCEs and the critical color-changing temperature of the dyes, the 3D thermochromic LCE structures can change their shapes and colors simultaneously. Demonstrations, including simulated blooming process, camouflage behavior, and underwater camouflage, highlight the reliability of this strategy. Furthermore, integration of micro-ferromagnetic particles allows the octopus thermochromic LCE robot to respond to thermal-magnetic dual stimuli for adaptive motion and diverse biomimetic motion modes, accompanied by color-changing behaviors.
Article
Biology
Callum F. McLellan, Innes C. Cuthill, Stephen H. Montgomery
Summary: Prey animals use color and patterning to either avoid detection or advertise their unpalatability. This study examines how pattern use varies across phylogenetically related cryptic and aposematic butterfly larvae with different social behavior. The results show that longitudinal stripes are more common in cryptic larvae, while patterns associated with crypsis are more likely to be used by solitary larvae. Aposematic larvae, on the other hand, are more likely to display horizontal bands and spots. This research advances our understanding of pattern variation, coloration, and social behavior in lepidopteran larvae.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Xin Yang, Wei-dong Xu, Jun Liu, Qi Jia, Heng Liu, Jian-guo Ran, Liang Zhou, Yue Zhang, You -bin Hao, Chao-chang Liu
Summary: A small-spot deformation camouflage design algorithm based on background texture matching is proposed to improve the fusion between the spots of deformation camouflage and the background. The combination of spots and textures enhances the fusion of the spot pattern and the background. An adversarial autoencoder convolutional network is designed to extract background texture features and improve the clarity of the generated texture pattern and the generalization ability of the model.
DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Moria. L. L. Robinson, Marjorie. G. G. Weber, Micah. G. G. Freedman, Evan Jordan, Sarah. R. R. Ashlock, Jenna Yonenaga, Sharon. Y. Y. Strauss
Summary: A critical function of animal coloration is to avoid attack, either by warning predators or reducing detectability. The evolution of coloration strategies depends on prey palatability and apparency to predators. For insect herbivores, host plants play a key role in determining coloration. Conspicuous colors are associated with herbaceous host plants, while camouflage colors and patterns are associated with woody plants and grasses. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the evolutionary forces shaping color and pattern in nature.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Dylan H. N. Thomas, Karin Kjernsmo, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Heather M. Whitney, Innes C. Cuthill
Summary: The shininess of iridescent beetles makes them more conspicuous, but their changeable hues reduce their detectability by bird predators. However, the property of iridescence that reduces detectability is still unclear. Iridescent objects change not only in hue but also in intensity as the viewing angle changes, and many iridescent animals are also shiny or glossy, which are related to crypsis.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gisela Sobral, Filipe Souza-Gudinho
Summary: Mammals may exhibit different colors, and some rodents and eutherians emit green or orange biofluorescence under UV light. This biofluorescence is likely caused by keratinization and may serve various functions within the rodent group.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Zeke W. Rowe, Daniel J. D. Austin, Nicol Chippington, William Flynn, Finn Starkey, Edward J. Wightman, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Innes C. Cuthill
Summary: Camouflage is crucial for animal survival, but background complexity also plays a role in detectability. Experimental findings show that even poorly camouflaged animals can benefit from high visual complexity backgrounds, reducing their detectability and increasing their chances of survival. The study suggests that complex backgrounds can mitigate the effects of poor camouflage, impacting both camouflage evolution and habitat preferences.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Debora Goedert, Dale Clement, Ryan Calsbeek
Summary: Animal coloration is a complex trait influenced by various ecological selective pressures and related to developmental and physiological processes. In wood frogs, dorsal coloration shows continuous variation, unaffected by body size or condition but changing with age. Subtle sexual dichromatism may have a demographic rather than a role in sex recognition.
ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Joong Hoon Lee, Jae Kim Yeong, Young Jin Yoo, Sehui Chang, Gil Ju Lee, Joo Hwan Ko, Kyung Muk Kang, Debashis Chanda, Young Min Song
Summary: This paper presents a colored, covert IR display exhibiting visible color patterns and thermally encoded data simultaneously based on a hybrid planar-plasmonic cavity (HPPC). The HPPC structure enhances vivid coloration and data storage capacity per unit.
ADVANCED OPTICAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Samantha E. S. Kreling
Summary: With altered environmental conditions and natural selection pressures, urban areas provide wildlife with different natural selection parameters and genetic drift potential compared to nonurban regions. This can lead to the increase of regionally atypical pelage coloration and the frequent occurrence of alternative color morphs in urban avian and mammalian populations. The present article discusses the mechanisms and potential for such persistence, considering the altered mutation rates, reduced predation risk, increased temperatures, strong genetic drift, and increased interaction with people in urban areas.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Emmanuel Arriaga-Varela, Richard A. B. Leschen, Wioletta Tomaszewska
Summary: Debris-cloaking, a method of concealment used by invertebrates such as beetles to avoid detection, has been observed in larvae of the Neotropical beetle genus Catapotia. This behavior has only been reported in the Anamorphidae family of Coccinelloidea. The study also provides a summary of the defensive mechanisms and natural history traits of coccinellids in Coccinelloidea.
ORGANISMS DIVERSITY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
John G. Fennell, Laszlo Talas, Roland J. Baddeley, Innes C. Cuthill, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel
Summary: Researchers utilized deep learning and genetic algorithms to identify the best camouflage and most conspicuous signals from a vast array of patterns, demonstrating the effectiveness of their approach in behavioral experiments across different habitats and visual systems.
Article
Ecology
Shahar Dubiner, Itai Namir, Ron Chen, Eran Levin
Summary: Camouflage, specifically the tabby pattern, is advantageous for feral cats in natural habitats. This pattern allows them to better blend in with their surroundings, increasing their probability of survival.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Xiaoming Yao
Summary: In this study, a novel visual privacy protection algorithm based on adaptive histogram shift adjustment is proposed to camouflage visual identifiers in digital images. Inspired by camouflage in animals, the algorithm effectively blurs and segments the image, and then adaptively re-joins or splits it using randomly chosen shifts to achieve de-identification.
MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Innes C. Cuthill, William L. Allen, Kevin Arbuckle, Barbara Caspers, George Chaplin, Mark E. Hauber, Geoffrey E. Hill, Nina G. Jablonski, Chris D. Jiggins, Almut Kelber, Johanna Mappes, Justin Marshall, Richard Merrill, Daniel Osorio, Richard Prum, Nicholas W. Roberts, Alexandre Roulin, Hannah M. Rowland, Thomas N. Sherratt, John Skelhorn, Michael P. Speed, Martin Stevens, Mary Caswell Stoddard, Devi Stuart-Fox, Laszlo Talas, Elizabeth Tibbetts, Tim Caro
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. G. Fennell, L. Talas, R. J. Baddeley, I. C. Cuthill, N. E. Scott-Samuel
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2019)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Karin Kjernsmo, Heather M. Whitney, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Joanna R. Hall, Henry Knowles, Laszlo Talas, Innes C. Cuthill
Article
Ecology
Laszlo Talas, John G. Fennell, Karin Kjernsmo, Innes C. Cuthill, Nick E. Scott-Samuel, Roland J. Baddeley
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Ecology
John G. Fennell, Laszlo Talas, Roland J. Baddeley, Innes C. Cuthill, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel
Summary: Researchers utilized deep learning and genetic algorithms to identify the best camouflage and most conspicuous signals from a vast array of patterns, demonstrating the effectiveness of their approach in behavioral experiments across different habitats and visual systems.
Meeting Abstract
Ophthalmology
Jasmina Stevanov, Laszlo Talas, Michele Furlan, Nick Scott-Samuel, Hiroshi Ashida